True Heart
by Ambient Dark Melody
Summary: Set between CoM and KH2, Axel explores his thoughts on certain things. Slight AkuRoku and KH2 spoilers. Oneshot.


Sadly, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Axel, Roxas, Organization XIII, or any of that other junk. But if I DID own Axel, well, let's just say that I would be very happy, but I don't think Axel would be... >.> Going back on subject, this little fanficoccurs sometime between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2, and I wrote this when I was only halfway through the KH2 game, so if some of the facts aren't really factual, then PLZ DON'T HURT ME! o.O; Anywayz- oh just read the darn thing. >.>

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True Heart

Axel stood lifelessly in the pure white room, his head and right shoulder resting against the wall. Not too long ago, he and six of the other Organization XIII members had been in another long meeting. Xemnas had decided that, once the chosen Keyblade wielder, Sora, awoke from his slumber, they would use the hearts released from the Heartless that the boy would destroy with the Keyblade. Even though Xemnas didn't say what he was going to use the hearts for, Axel still had a feeling he wouldn't like whatever it was.

Sighing heavily, the red-haired young man shifted his position and stood with his back against the wall, his green eyes closed in thought. For some reason, his way of thinking was slowly straying away from what the Organization was all about...

He chuckled suddenly, his mouth curling into a small smile.

"I guess that boy rubbed off on me, 'cause I'm starting to think just like Roxas."

As soon as the smile had appeared though, it faded back into a frown just as quickly at the thought of his friend's name.

"Roxas..."

It had only been a couple of months since Roxas, number 13, had turned against the Organization in order to find out why he had the Keyblade, only to end up in a false world named Twilight Town. Even though Axel knew his friend would get locked away in the end, he still missed his friend very much.

Then he would always remember that he was just a Nobody, born without a heart, not meant to care, be cared about, or even exist...right?

Axel turned and slammed his fist into the wall as hard as he could, a yell of rage emitting from behind gritted teeth. Both the blow and the yell echoed loudly throughout the enormous room.

If he was just a Nobody, then why did he have so many thoughts and feelings? How could he care about so many things if he didn't have a heart? He couldn't figure it out. He couldn't even find out who he really was, who he was before he became a Heartless and was left as just a shell.

"I don't even remember my real name," he said quietly, leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor.

He had never felt so confused. He'd never even started thinking like that until Roxas was born and joined Organization XIII. Before that, all Axel knew how to feel was anger, hatred, and envy for all the beings that still had their own hearts. When Roxas came, that all changed.

Maybe it was because of the Keyblade that haunted the blonde boy, or maybe it was because he was part of the boy that connected everything; either way, Roxas had always looked past everything that was right infront of him and focused on things Axel had never even thought of before. Always deep in thought, talking more to himself than Axel most of the time, he would ramble on about things such as destiny, the real difference between darkness and light, and true heart. Axel would always listen intently, think deeply about everything the boy said, ask questions, and lighten the mood whenever he could.

But now that Roxas was gone, there was no one to talk to. Unfortunately, none of the other Organization members had any interest in what Axel and Roxas would always talk about; all they wanted was revenge. Axel was alone, more alone than he had ever been.

A single tear threatened to fall down the young man's cheek, but he immediately wiped it from his eye with the palm of his hand.

"C'mon, pull it together," he told himself aloud, his voice cracking slightly. "You're just a Nobody after all, and Nobodies can't cry... they don't have the hearts to do it... it's meaningless if we don't have hearts... I'm just meaningless..."

At that moment, Roxas' voice suddenly came into Axel's mind. It was a memory of something Roxas had said in one of their conversations.

"I think what everyone says is crap," the voice said. "I think we really do have hearts! Well, at least, the kind of Nobodies WE are, not those stupid Dusks and all those other Nobodies. I mean, we have emotions, feelings, thoughts, questions, and all that other stuff, right? So why wouldn't we have hearts? If we didn't, we wouldn't be able to care about each other as friends, right Axel?"

It had been at that point in the conversation that Axel had wrapped his arm around Roxas' neck, twisted his fist into the blonde boy's head playfully, grinned and replied, "Nah, I just feel sorry for ya!", laughing happily as he rarely did. Roxas had just grinned back and turned it into one of their little wrestling matches.

Remembering that happy day, Axel chuckled sadly as he sat and stared at the ceiling, his back and head resting against the cold wall.

"Maybe...just maybe...he was right..." he said softly as a small tear slowly found its way down his cheek and onto his chest for the first time since he was born.

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If you liked it, yay and plz review! If you didn't like it, well then TOUGH NOOGIES. 0.o Oh, and all flames will be given to Axel to torch random things he doesn't like with. :3


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